Culvert.



No. 860,775. PATBNTED OCT. 3, 1905. w. J. WALSH.

GULVERT.

APPLICATION FILED MABHIO, 1905.

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WVILLIAM J. IVALSH, OF MILLER, CALIFORNIA.

CULVERT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 3, 1905.

Application filed March 10, 1905. Serial No. 249,487.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM J. l/VALsH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Miller, in the county of Mendocino and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Culverts, of which the following is a specification.

Country roads and especially mountain roads which are graded along hillsides are liable to be greatly damaged and often to be rendered impassable by the washing and scouring effect of water discharged upon them during heavy storms or in rainy seasons. Such roads are usually built with gutters adjacent to the base of the hill, and in many cases wooden conduits or culverts having open ends are placed under the road to carry water across and discharge it at the other side. Such conduits, however, cannot prevent surfacewater from following the wheel-tracks, and therefore in heavy rainstorms such surfacewater washes out deep ruts and ditches, clamaging the roadway and often rendering it impassable.

The objects of my invention are, first, to provide culverts which will not only discharge water in the same manner as the sunken culverts referred to, but will also receive and discharge the surface-water; further, to provide an open-topped conduit that will cause no obstruction, jar, or jolt in the passage of vehicles; further, to make a portable culvert possessing these advantages and which will be not only simple and cheap in construction, but strong and durable in use, and, further, to provide a conduit which can be easily cleaned and freed from earth, gravel, or other accumulated debris.

An embodiment of my invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which' Figure 1 is a perspective view of my conduit and its removable cover. Fig.. 2 is a cross-section of the cover on the line w m of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is across-section of the cover on the line 1/ y of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section of part of a roadway, showing the conduit and cover in cross-section.

The culvert or conduit 1 is a trough of any suitable crosssectionsuch as rectangular, as shown, or V-shaped-and is open at the top and at both ends. At suitable intervals in the'roadway are dug ditches of approximately the cross-sectional shape of the conduits. These ditches extend across the roadway and each contains one of the troughs 1,

which is thus enabled to receive water from the side at one end and to discharge it at the other end. Resting upon the upper edges of the side pieces of the trough is a separate cover having an open top adapted to pass surface-water into the trough. The cover is composed of longitudinal timbers 2, preferably of ordinary scantling and of the same length as the trough. These pieces are spaced apart by blocks 3 at intervals throughout their extent, as indicated in Fig. 1, and the whole cover structure is braced and secured rigidly together by one or more transverse bolts 4c, passing through the timbers and blocks. This cover forms a grating of substantially the length and width of the conduit and is placed loosely upon the latter, as shown, resting by itsown weight and held in place by tamping earth firmly along its sides. The top of the cover is substantially in the plane of the roadway, as shown in Fig. 4, so that vehicles pass over it smoothly.

In operation the conduit proper receives water from the side at one end and discharges it from the other, while the grating passes surface-water into the conduit. The conduits being very cheap and a number of them being easily portable can be placed at short intervals at parts of the road which are badly exposed, so that surface-water has no opportunity to form ruts and ditches between them. Further, since the covers are independent structures resting on the troughs they can be easily removed when it becomes necessary to clean out such troughs.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In combination with a roadway having a transverse ditch, a trough in said ditch below the plane of the road way, and an open cover upon said trough, whose upper surface is in substantially the plane of the roadway; said cover comprising longitudinal timbers, blocks interposed at intervals between said timbers, and bolts securing said timbers and blocks together.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature, in presence of, two witnesses, this 28th day of February, 1905.

WILLIAM J. l/VALSH.

WVitnesses:

J. W. KINGREN, J. L. DAUGHERTY. 

